Ernest Shackleton, 1874-1922

Biographical note

Anglo-Irish explorer who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic
Exploration. His first experience of the polar regions was as third officer on Captain Scott’s Discovery Expedition,
1901–04, from which he was sent home early on health grounds. Determined to make amends for this perceived personal
failure, he returned to Antarctica in 1907 as leader of the Nimrod Expedition. In January 1909 he and three companions
made a southern march which established a record Farthest South latitude at 88°23'S, 97 geographical miles (114 statute
miles, 190 km) from the South Pole, by far the closest convergence in exploration history up to that time. For this
achievement, Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII on his return home.

After the race to the South Pole ended in 1912 with Roald Amundsen's conquest, Shackleton turned his attention to
what he said was the one remaining great object of Antarctic journeying — the crossing of the continent from sea to
sea, via the pole. To this end he made preparations for what became the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914–17.
Disaster struck this expedition when its ship, Endurance, was trapped in pack ice and slowly crushed, before the shore
parties could be landed. There followed a sequence of exploits, and an ultimate escape with no lives lost, that would
eventually assure Shackleton's heroic status, although this was not immediately evident.

In 1921 he went back to the Antarctic with the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition, intending to carry out a programme of
scientific and survey activities. Before the expedition could begin this work Shackleton died of a heart attack while
his ship, Quest, was moored in South Georgia. At his wife's request he was buried there.